Omneon Spectrum™ HD

Continuing to deliver on an HD roadmap laid out at NAB2004, Omneon will unveil at IBC2004 a new HD media server configuration, the Omneon Spectrum™ HD. This new server delivers integrated native playback of HD MPEG media. The Omneon Spectrum™ HD includes two new media interface adapters: the MultiPort 4000 Series for one or two channels of HD MPEG playback and the MediaPort 4010 for material acquisition. These new interface units further extend the HD capabilities of the Omneon Spectrum™ media server product line and provide broadcasters with a media server solution that can simultaneously store and play back both SD and HD content. In addition, any existing Omneon system can be upgraded — without disrupting operations — to an Omneon Spectrum™ HD through the simple addition of these new interface units.

MultiPort 4000 Series

The MultiPort 4000 Series is a new family of HD MPEG decoders for playback of HD material ingested into an Omneon Spectrum™ media server. The MultiPort 4001 provides a single channel of HD playback. The MultiPort 4002 provides for two independent channels of HD playback in either 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 profiles. Each MultiPort 4000 Series device includes outputs for HD-SDI video, audio, timecode, and control.

MediaPort 4010

Along with the new MultiPort 4000 Series for HD playback, Omneon is introducing a new MediaPort for HD material acquisition. The new MediaPort 4010 accepts an incoming ASI-based transport stream and demuxes it into HD MPEG essence material. By utilizing this new MediaPort, broadcasters can use the HD encoder of their choice to ingest HD MPEG material while using the integrated HD playback capability provided by the MultiPort 4000 Series for direct playback.

HD in Any Format

In addition to the integrated HD capabilities available with its new HD interface devices, Omneon also has recently introduced enhancements to its SDTI media interface adapter, the MediaPort 1002, to enable support for Panasonic’s compressed HD format, DVCPRO-HD. With this new capability, the Omneon Spectrum™ system becomes the first media server capable of supporting all leading HD formats simultaneously, including HD MPEG, HDCAM, and DVCPRO-HD. Incorporating Omneon’s Smart Scalability, the Omneon Spectrum™ allows broadcasters to deploy a server infrastructure for HD and SD playback today and gain the flexibility to add channels or services at any point in the future. The complete investment protection delivered by the Omneon Spectrum™ media server enables current Omneon customers to add new HD services, including DVCPRO-HD, to their existing media server implementations easily and cost-effectively.

Native MXF

Building on its leadership in driving MXF standardization, Omneon will show native support for MXF across the entire line of Omneon Spectrum™ media servers, giving customers the choice of either QuickTime ® or MXF as the media wrapper format for material stored within an Omneon system. Omneon announced and demonstrated native MXF support at NAB2004, is now shipping systems with native MXF capability, and has made an upgrade available to all existing Omneon customers to enable MXF support.

The Omneon Spectrum™ system is the industry’s most cost-effective and flexible media server, delivering unparalleled scalability and modularity. Capable of supporting both real-time (isochronous) broadcast connectivity and non-real-time (asynchronous) network connectivity, it gives broadcasters the freedom to use multiple formats and applications simultaneously, with the compatibility required to support existing systems and add new services easily.

The Omneon Spectrum™ media server consists of three basic components:

• MediaDirector server components, which manage bandwidth between the real-time interface components, network connectivity, and the storage subsystem. A MediaDirector includes multiple processing elements to ensure maximum bandwidth for real-time audio/video streams as well as manage all file-system and RAID functions.
• MediaStore storage arrays, including 73-, 146-, or 300-GB Fibre Channel drives, hot-swappable power supplies, plus multiple access modules for enhancing bandwidth and resiliency.
• MediaPort and MultiPort interface adapters for video, audio, timecode, and control. Through these I/O components, users can ingest and encode content, and play out content for production or transmission. These components are available in a variety of formats, such as MPEG-2 (SD and HD), DV/DVCPro, uncompressed ITU 601, SDTI, HDCAM, DVCPRO-HD, and DVB/ASI. MediaPorts provide bidirectional, one-channel I/O, while MultiPorts provide multiple channels of playout.

With the ability to combine components in a virtually unlimited fashion and add any component to a system at any time, users have maximum flexibility in terms of channel count, bandwidth, storage capacity, and system redundancy. In one system, broadcasters can obtain the features they need today and the scalability they need for future growth.

About Omneon
Omneon is a leading provider of flexible media server and active storage systems that optimize workflow productivity and on-air reliability for the production, distribution, and management of digital media. Omneon is a pioneer in the use of advanced IT technologies and open systems for broadcast applications, producing a modular and expandable video server architecture in the Omneon Spectrum. The company's MediaGrid active storage system delivers centralized content storage that is scalable in capacity, bandwidth, and media-processing power. The company has an extensive global presence with customers in 45 countries on six continents. Omneon is on the Web at www.Omneon.com.

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